Dental articulator



(No Model.) 2 sheets-sheet 1. J. PAYNE.

. DENTAL ARTIGULATOR. No. 474,968. Patented May 1,'7, 1892.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Jr. PAY-NB.

DENTAL ARTICULATOR.

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JOSEPH PAYNE, OF vDVIGHT, ILLINOIS.

DENTAL ARTICU LATO R.

SPECIFICATIONforming part of Letters Patent No. 474,968, dated May 17, 1892.

Application iiled February 9, 1891.

ston and State of Illinois, have invented a,

certain new and useful Improvement in Articulators, of which the following is a specilication.

This improvement is designed to provide a convenient instrument for dental use; and the invention consists in the peculiar construction, arrangement, and combinations of parts hereinafter more fully described, and then definitely claimed.

In the g accompanying drawings, wherein like reference-letters indicate like parts, Figure l is a top plan of said instrument; Fig. 2, a side elevation with partial sections; Fig. 3, a section in line 3 3 of Fig.1; Fig. 4, asection in line 4 4 of Fig. l; Fig. 5, a partial plan of the upper face of the lower jaw; Fig. 6,asimi lar plan'oi:` the lower face of the upper jaw; Fig. 7, a section in line 7 7 of Fig. 5; Fig. 8, a side elevation of the upper jaw detached and resting over the knobs; Fig. 9, aside ele# vation of the pivot-standard, and Fig. l0 a top view of the plate or box E with its cover removed.

Referring now to the details of the drawings, B is the bottom plate or lower jaw provided near itsrear end with an upright post having a graduated scale b marked on one s1 e.

C is a sleeve fitting the post Band sliding vertically thereon, but feathered to the post to prevent turning.

D is a screw workingin a rear extension of the sleeve to raise and lower the sleeve upon the post. The scale b enables the elevation of the sleeve upon the post to be determined and recorded, so that whenever desirable it can, in any subsequent operation, be set to precisely the same elevation.

serian@ 380,734. momia y plate E is held ou its horizontal pivot e to be noted, so that it can be restored to the same position atany time afterward. A screw F, passing through a lug at thefront edge of the sleeve and bearing upward ,against the under it. A sliding bar Gr.fits closely in the rear or f narrow portion of the recess, so as to be guided thereby, and can be moved forward and backward by an adjusting-screw I-I. The top plate or upper jaw A of the transfer is provided at the middle of its rear part with a tongue a, which extends back into the box E E and is secured to the sliding bar G by a vertical pivot g, so as to permit the upper jaw A to swing laterally, but not vertically, with relation to the sliding bar and the box. Lateral adj Listing-screws I l regulate and limit the lateral swing referred to. It will be seen therefore that the jaw A and box E E swing together in a vertical plane on the pivot e as a center, so that the inclination of the box determines that of the jaw; secondly, that the jaw can be adjusted forward and backward with reference to the box by means of the screw H; thirdly, that the jaw can be deiected laterally with relation to the box by means of the screws I I; fourthly, that the box and jaw can be raised and lowered together by the screw D, and, tifthly, that the screws D H I I not only adjust the jaw but serve to lock it in its adjusted positions. A graduated scale a on the tongue a, acting in connection with the front edge of the box, enables the operator to note the exact position to which the jaw-plate A is projected forward or drawn back by the screw H, and a graduated scale a2 on the front edge of the box acting in connection with an index-line IOO on the tongue Ct enables him to note the late eral deflection of the plate by the screws I I', so that he can at any time afterward, by reference`to his memorandum-book, ascertain and reproduce both adjustments as well as the vertical inclination of the jaw A (shown by the scale or index-line 62) and its elevation above plate B. (Shown by the scale b.) By removing the pivot e the jaw A and box E E can be detached together from the sleeve C and removed from the machine.

It will of course be understood that the plaster casts of the mouth are to be attached to the two jaw-plates A B, which have flat smooth proximate faces` imperforate, and preferably silvered or nickel-plated to prevent corrosion. The continuous flat smooth surfaces are employed to enable soft-plaster batter to be placed upon them and hardened or set, as it is technically termed, and afterward removed without cutting or breaking. Thetop or back of a cast being placed upon the soft batter and suitably pressed into it, adheres to the latter when set, and the cast thus becomes attached to the jaw-plate and is afterward', with its hardened plaster backing, capably of easy removal .from the liat smooth jaw. In fact, it would be liable to drop off accidentally were not some adequate provision made for temporarily securing it in a more effective manner than by the mere adhesion of the plaster to the jaw. Hence to this end I combine with the jaw a suitable locking device, by which the cast, with its backing of hardened plaster, may be locked to and unlocked from the plate at will. Such a locking device may be constructed in many different ways, all more or less practical equivalents of each other for the purpose; but the construction which I have found to be the k most effective, convenient, and desirable, is as follows: At about the line where the rear edge of the casi is expected to come when at-k tached to the j aw-plate I provide the smooth inner face of the jaw with araised transverse flange or rib J, having its front face preferably inclined, as showninthedrawings. -This rib or fiange I term the stop At an angle to this stop (preferably a right angle) I also raise from the surface of the jaw one or more V-shaped ridges K, each abutting against the stop and each having at somesuitable point in its lengtha V-shaped notch 7c. Preferably I use two of these ridges parallel to each other arranged near the opposite lateral edges of the jaw, as shown. A hole passes transversely through the stop and longitudinally into and preferably through each ridge K to accomdate a sliding lock-bolt L, the forward end of which extends through the open notch 7c and preferably into or through that portion of the ridge which lies in front of said notch. I also prepare staples or eyelets S, Fig. 7, adapted to fit into the notches 7c and having an eye, through which, when the eyelet is fitted into the notch, the bolt L will extend if pushed forward, thus locking the eyelet to the jaw. The eyelets are so formed as to allow the plaster to flow around them, and thus embed them in the plaster when the the rear side of the stop J and fastened to the Y jaw-plate with screws. The collar or projectionl allows the bolt to slide the length of the recess in the saddle-plate butl no more.

In operating the machine the jaw A and its connected box E E are sometimes removed together from the machine when all the screws may have been carefully adjusted, and when it is desirable that the adjustment should not be disturbed. and disturbance when the removed jaw and box are laid upon a table, I provide the top surface of the jaw and box with bosses CL3 a3 a3, forming together a sort of tripod,upon which said parts may safely rest, as shown in Fig.

To prevent them from injury Y 8. Itis best, also, to make a mark or marks on the rear end of the jaws A B to indicate their median line. formed in the ridges K at those points where the lock will act most effectively to hold the casts firmly to the jawplates, points about in line transversely with the middle of the cast being the best. The V shape is given to the notches, ridges, and front side of the stop, to enable the casts to be readilyseparated from The notches 7c are out or the jaws and also to aid as guides in brin'ging the casts to their proper position on the plate. In adapting a cast to one of these jaws I set the several scales, insert eyelets S into notches K, and lock them with the bolts L, lightly oil the surface of the jaws, including the ridges and the front side of the stop, and cover the smooth fiat surface of the jaw and its ridges and eyelets back to the stop J with soft plaster batter, such as is employed for making the casts, heaping up the batter at the middle, so as to have a sufficient surplus of batter on the jaw. I then place the top or back of the cast on the batter and press it down till it rests on the ridges K with its rear edge abutting against the higher stop J and with the median line of the cast coinciding with that marked on the exposed rear surface of the jaw or its stop. Vhen the plaster hardens, the embedded eyelets act as staples,

through which pass the bolts L, locking the .chine arise from its simple, positive, and easy adjustments, the provision of scales for noting and afterward reproducing these adjustments,

and the provision of convenient and eifective means for enabling the work to beinserted and removed whenever desirable and without any mutilation of any portion of it.

A locking device constructed on the gen-` eral principle herein shown and described has the important practical advantage that it leaves nothing projecting from the back of the casts when the latter are removed from the machine, the ridges K acting to produce grooves in which the eyelets S lie below or even with the surface of the casts, leaving the latter ilat with no projecting part to break oif or become accidentally injured in handling.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim in this specification as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In an articulator, a mechanical jaw constructed in the form of a plate fiat and imperforated on its inner surface and provided with a notched projection adapted to form in the surface of the casta depression to receive the eyelet and with a hole to accommodate a locking-bolt, substantially as described.

2. -In an articulator, a mechanical jaw constructed in the form of a plate fiat and imperforate on its inner surface and provided with a longitudinal ridge or ridges K, having notches k and with a hole to accommodate a locking-bolt L, substantially as described.

3. In an articulator, a mechanical jaw constructed in the form of a plate flat and imperforate on its inner surface and provided with a transverse dange or stop J, and a longitudinal ridge or ridges K, bored and notched, substantially as described.

4. In an articulator, the combination of a jaw provided with a vertical post and a graduated scale b, a feathered sleeve capable of sliding vertically on said post, another jaw pivoted to the sleeve so as to be capable of rocking thereon in a vertical plane of movement, and a screw D for vertically adjusting the position of the sleeve on the post, substantiallyfas described.

5. In an articulator, the combination of a plane of movement, a screw F to rock and adj ust the pivoted jaw, and a graduated scale e2 toindicate the degree of inclination at which the pivoted jaw may at any time be adjusted, substantially as described.

6. In an articulator, the combination of the rocking plate E, the sliding bar G, the jawplate A, pivoted to the bar G, so as to swing laterally thereon, the adj usting-screw H, and a graduated scale d to indicate theextent to which the plate A and bar G may be at any time adj usted forward or back upon the plate E, substantially as described.

7. In an articulator, the combination of the rocking plate E, the jaw-plate A, supported by said rocking plate and adapted to be moved forward and backward and to swing laterally thereon, means for locking it in its forward and backward adjustment, and a graduated scale d to indicate the degree of such adjustment, substantially as described.

8. In an articulator, the combination of the rocking plate E, the jaw-plate A, supported by said rocking plate and adapted to be moved forward and backward and swing laterally thereon, the screws I I for laterally adjusting and locking the jaw-plate, and a graduated scale a2 to indicate the degree of such lateral adjustment, substantially as described.

9. The improved machine herein described, consisting, essentially, of two fiat-surfaced imperforate jaw-plates provided with means for detachably locking the casts thereto, a post and sleeve to connect the jaws and enable them to be adjusted in parallel planes at greater and less distances apart, a plate pivoted to the movable element of the post-andsleeve device, so as to be capable of rocking thereon in a vertical plane of movement and supporting the movable jaw-plate, means for moving the movable jaw-plate back and forth longitudinally and swinging it laterally upon its said\pivoted supporting-plate, adjustingscrews to effect the described adjustments of the movable jaw-plate, and graduated scales to mark the degrees of the several adjustments, said parts being combined to operate substantially as described.

JOSEPH PAYNE. Witnesses:

L. A. NAFFZIGER, JENNIE PAYNE.

IOO 

